Quotes and speeches of the month

Welcome to this website devoted to the art of speeches in Europe today. Logos, pathos, ethos brings you some of the best quotes, speeches, and rhetorical tips. As its name suggests, this multilingual website is inspired by the long-standing European tradition of the art of speeches stretching back over twenty-five centuries. It seeks to shine a spotlight on speeches that matter on the European stage today.

Logos Pathos Ethos, July 2016

Dear speech-fans and -friends,

Different speakers, different audiences,
different events, yet the same quote :

“A politician is
a man who thinks of the next election,
while a statesman thinks of the next generation”.

Together with its relevance for us today, this
makes it our quote of the month.

If you want to find out who used it, read
this month selection of quotes.

European speeches in June have dealt with –
obvioulsy - the referendum in United Kingdom, but also history, Asterix and
football.

You might also want to meet and learn from Sarah Hurwitz, Michelle Obama’s speechwriter – special
thanks to Vital
speeches for spotting this Washington Post article.

How to own the room - Women and the art of brilliant speaking

Viv Groskop

Pay attention to the first two words of the title: “how to”: they imply that there is a way, that you can learn. And indeed, the idea that we – women, but “they don’t have the monopoly of insecurity”, so actually everybody, really – can learn “how to be powerful in (our) speaking is at the heart of this book.
Viv Groskop invites u[...]Read more

Quotation of the day

« There is a tendency to remember those who signed the Treaty of Rome as political geniuses and evangelists of a United Europe. The truth is that they were leaders with their own private doubts, under incredible pressure from events and in a state of profound vulnerability. The collective powerlessness of Europe after the Second World War forced them... »

The point I’m making here
is very serious : The reason we all used to learn rhetoric at school was
because it was seen as a basic entry point to society. How could society be
fair unless everyone had equal ability to articulate and express
themselves ? Without it, your legal systems, your political systems, your
financial sytems are not fair. It should be of intense concern to all of us that
education in this has been narrowed to a very small and powerful elite (…)

Let’s revive rhetoric,
let’s really reinvigorate debates around the world and let’s really give every
child on the planet to become a leader.
What should we call this grand initiative ? Well here’s an idea.
How about : democracy ?

Logos Pathos Ethos, March 2016

The art of speeches is an old enough discipline to
keep us from believing the challenges we face are totally new to mankind.

Looking back to history, we can find in leaders
confronted to dangers and difficulties some wisdom, vision, and inspiration.

And good stories. And good quotes.

This month’s harvest provides a few examples.

Isabelle

If you
read only one speech this month, read this one

by Umberto
Eco,

delivered
in 2012 when he received the Treaties of Nijmegen Medal.

To
decide and recognize what, in a tolerant vision, would remain intolerable for
us, is the kind or borderline that Europeans are called to trace every day,
with a sense of equity and with the constant exercise of that virtue that,
since Aristotle, philosopher called Prudence.

In
this philosophical sense, prudence does not mean reluctance to take risks, and
does not coincide with cowardice. In the classical sense of phronesis, prudence
is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.